[Grammar] I'm not seeing my girlfriend tomorrow.

[beachboy]

If somebody asks me "Are you seeing your girlfriend tomorrow?", and I'm pessimistic about the meeting, can I say: "I don't think we WILL see each other tomorrow"? Does "I'm not seeing my girlfriend tomorrow" mean either that we have arranged not to see each other or that, for some reason, it will be impossible?

 

[emsr2d2]

Neither would be a natural answer. Most native speakers would say one of the following:

Yes.
No.
Probably.
Possibly.
Probably not.
I doubt it.
I don't think so.

We don't tend to repeat unnecessary parts of a question in our response.

Grammatically, you can say "I don't think we'll see each other tomorrow". If you said "I'm not seeing my girlfriend tomorrow", I would assume that you had not arranged to meet.

 

[Lynxear]

I don't think we will see each other tomorrow.

This is a very good response if you are not sure that you will see her the next day.

I'm not seeing my girlfriend tomorrow.

This a good response when you are sure that there will be no meeting between the two of you.

It could mean that you have a prior agreement not to see each other, but this is not necessarily so. For example, she may be traveling somewhere and won't be available to see you until some time in the future.

Another sentence may follow this one. In it you might describe the reason why you won't see her. You would only do this if you wanted to educate your listener for some reason.